At a Borough Council meeting in March of 2011, the Borough Council authorized the Mountain Lakes Historic Preservation Committee to proceed to develop language for a proposed historic preservation ordinance implementing the recommendations of the 2010 update to the Master Plan Historic Preservation Element.

The HPC formed an ad hoc committee of residents with expertise and interest in land use issues in Mountain Lakes to obtain their input in shaping the proposed ordinance.

The primary focus of the Ad Hoc Historic Preservation Ordinance Committee is to propose the enhanced "bulk requirements" in the Borough’s zoning ordinance that would provide the proper "incentive" to preserve and rehabilitate historic Hapgood and Belhall residential buildings, without undermining other historic preservation interests (for example, by leading to outsized homes, or types of additions, that are inconsistent with the town’s, and the homes’, historic character).

The HPC may also seek input from the Ad Hoc Historic Preservation Ordinance Committee on possible "disincentives" to demolition of historic structures that are also part of the Master Plan recommendation.

The Ad Hoc Historic Preservation Ordinance Committee will meet beginning in June 2011 and hopes to complete its work and provide final recommendations for input into a proposed historic preservation ordinance during the Fall of 2011.

It is expected that any proposed historic preservation ordinance that is presented to the Borough Council will be subject to comment from members of the public before the Borough Council takes any formal action.